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The ordinances and charters of the Carpenters' Company gave the Court of Assistants power to regulate the carpentry trade by inspecting workshops and punishing carpenters who infringed Company regulations. The earliest references to the Company's regulation of the trade appear in the Court minute books (dating from 1533), and cases range from Company members employing "forrens" (carpenters from outside London), to the Court appointing "daysmen" and umpires to adjudicate where serious breaches of workmanship were claimed. The relationship between the Company and organisations representing related trades was also at times difficult, as craftsmen from other trades occasionally took on work reserved for carpenters. The seventeenth century in particular saw rivalries flourishing, and a lengthy and expensive legal dispute between the Carpenters' and Joiners' Companies concerning delimitation of their respective trades continued for over fifty years, until settled in 1672. In 1670 the Carpenters', Joiners' and Shipwrights' Companies all objected to the incorporation of the Sawyers, and the Guild did not establish itself beyond the preliminary stages.

           From the 19th century the Company has worked to promote the carpentry trade, through the support of educational ventures and competitions. The Company's Building Crafts Training School was founded in 1893, and technical examinations, lectures and exhibitions on woodworking and joinery were regularly held at Carpenters' Hall. The Company also helped fund a joint School for Woodcarving with King's College, London under the auspices of Professor Banister Fletcher (Master of the Company in 1893). After the Second World War, interest in the technical examinations declined, and in 1955 the Company launched an annual Carpenters Craft competition "to encourage excellence in practical craftsmanship". A challenging set piece was offered and efforts made to attract high-quality applications from craftsmen in Great Britain and Australia.  In 1972, the award was amalgamated with the competitions run by the Incorporated British Institute of Certified Carpenters, later the Institute of Carpenters, and continues today. 
     The Carpenters' Award was first presented in 1971, as 'an annual award for the very best work in joinery or other woodworking'. Run by Liveryman Terence Mallinson, the Company gave its support to raise the profile of the award and provided a venue for the award ceremony. In 2001 the awards were renamed the 'Timber Industry Awards', reflecting the increasing number of industry related sponsors, and in 2003 were re-launched and renamed the 'Wood Awards'. A Master Certificate Scheme was also launched in 2003 by the Company in conjunction with City & Guilds of London Institute, the Joiners & Ceilers' Company and the Institute of Carpenters.  The Scheme awards the titles of Master Carpenter, Master Shopfitter and Master Joiner as part of a continued effort to raise and acknowledge the level of skill of craftsmen in the construction industry.

The first mention of a Clerk to the Company appears in the records in 1483, and the appointment of a Clerk first appears in 1487, at an annual fee of 33s 4d in order to deal with the increasing administration of the Company. Aided by the Beadle, the Clerk supervised the day-to-day running of the Company, as is still the case today.

In 1751 the duties of the Clerk were clearly set out in the Court minutes. He was responsible for taking Court and committee minutes, attend the Master and Wardens when they collected rents, keep the Wardens' accounts, to go on the annual visit to Godalming, make out bonds and rentals for the Renter Warden and pay an assistant on Court days to fill up indentures. He was also required to write up annually the names of the Master and Wardens on vellum to be put up in the Hall. For this he received a salary of £40 a year, lodgings at the Hall and a Christmas gift of £10.

Almshouses
The Company's almshouses at Godalming, Surrey, were founded by Richard Wyatt, Master of the Company in 1604, 1605 and 1616. Wyatt died in 1619, and in his will left £500 for the construction of ten almshouses, and instructions to choose 10 residents, who were to be deserving poor of respectable character. Rents from his properties, including in Bramshott, Hampshire, and Henley-upon-Thames, were to be used to provide a small pension for each almsman and pay expenses for an annual visit by the governors of the Company. Ten almshouses and a small chapel were completed in 1622, each comprising a kitchen-parlour and bedroom, and were kept in their original style until a major refurbishment in 1958 when eight flats were created. Despite the endowments left by Wyatt and other benefactors, the cost of administering the Charity rose more rapidly than its income, and the charity was frequently in debt to the Company. During the nineteenth century, the Company sold the estate and reinvested the money for the benefit of the Charity. The almshouses were supervised by the Upper, or Senior, Warden, as is still the case today. Annual visits by the Company have taken place every year since 1623, except during war - in 1643, during the Civil War, and 1941 to 1945. In 1840 the Company purchased 8 acres of land in Twickenham, and following designs by William Fuller Pocock (Middle Warden of the Company), built a second set of almshouses to provide accommodation for ten people from the poor of the Company, to be Liverymen, Freemen or their widows. The almshouses were placed under the supervision of the Middle Warden, who visited once a month, whilst the Court made an annual visit in the last week of June. In 1947 the Company was obliged to sell the site to Twickenham Borough Council, who undertook to re-house all the almspeople.

            Irish Estate
    In 1607 James I embarked on the colonisation of Ulster in an attempt to quell rebellion and establish Protestantism. He "invited"       the City of London to undertake the corporate plantation (settlement) of Derry and Tyrone, and in 1610 The Honourable The Irish Society was established to manage the Irish Plantation for the city livery companies. The Plantation was divided into 12 "proportions", each purchased by a group of companies headed by one of the Great Twelve. The Carpenters' Company entered into an arrangement led by the Ironmongers, and along with the Brewers, Scriveners, Coopers, Pewterers and Barbers (Associate Companies), became part-owners of the Manor of Lizard, Londonderry. A series of agents was appointed to let the land, collect rents and keep       accounts. In 1840 a Board was formed to manage the property, comprising six representatives from the Ironmongers and one representative from each of the six associate companies. The rise of Irish nationalism and various Land Acts (from 1881 onwards), saw the City's undertaking in Ireland draw to a close. Between 1882-1884 the Ironmongers and Associate Companies divided the Manor of Lizard among themselves, with the Carpenters' receiving 632 acres in all, comprising Collins (280 acres), Knockaduff (304 acres) and part of Claggan (48 acres). However, following investigations by two Select Committees and a suit by the Attorney-General for Ireland against the Irish Society and others in 1893, the entire estate, including the Carpenters' Company acreage, was sold in the 1890s, mostly for token sums and to sitting tenants.

The Building Crafts College
Founded as the Trades' Training Schools by the Carpenters' Company in 1893, instruction was given in a wide variety of building-related disciplines with the participation of several other "Associated" Livery Companies. The school building was one of the few Company owned properties to suffer damage in the First World War: in May 1918 German aircraft bombed the nearby Bolsover Hotel, causing damage to the school. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Carpenters' Company offered the facilities of the College to the Government and over 3,000 servicemen were trained as carpenters, blacksmiths and sheet-metal workers. During and after the war, the College offered resettlement courses for servicemen returning to civilian life. By 1947, the school reverted to training apprentices for the construction industry and was known as the Building Crafts Training School. For some years from 1949 the school also ran courses in building foremanship in alliance with the London Master Builders' Association. During the war the building suffered serious damage, which severely weakened the fabric of the building, requiring frequent repairs. Consequently, the Company decided to rebuild the school in the 1960s, and at the same time to specialise in more advanced studies. The school was renamed the Building Crafts College in 1993, and in 2001 relocated to larger, purpose built premises on Company land in Stratford, East London. Training to NVQ level 3 is offered to apprentices in shopfitting, carpentry and joinery. Courses in fine woodwork and advanced stonemasonry are recognised by a joint Carpenters' Company/City and Guilds Diploma.

London Property
Property in Lime Street was formally bequeathed to the Company by Thomas Warham in 1481, although it seems that the Company may have had some claim on the property as early as 1454. The estate was first developed in the 1870s, in a joint venture with the Fishmongers' Company, Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals, and new buildings were put up in 1935. In 1927 the Company purchased property in Aldersgate Street consisting primarily of office and retail space, although one of the buildings had been a public house, The Albion Tavern (from 1873 or earlier to 1908). The majority of the Company's tenants were involved in the textile trade. The buildings were severely damaged in the Second World War, and in 1945 the cost of repair was estimated at £30,000. In 1948 the premises were let on a long lease in their damaged state. The expense of rebuilding of Carpenters' Hall however, meant that the Company needed to sell some of its freehold properties, and in 1958 the property was sold to the Corporation of London. The Company purchased property in Norton Folgate in 1627, originally known as Hog Lane, Worship Street. The property was sold off between 1862 and 1872 to make way for Liverpool Street Station.

      Rustington Convalescent Home
   Rustington Convalescent Home was founded and endowed by Sir Henry Harben (1823-1911), Chairman of the Prudential       Assurance Society and Master of the Carpenters' Company in 1893. Harben spent £50,000 in buying 17 acres of land and building the Home, acquiring a further 8 acres of farmland in 1898. The Home opened in March 1897 with the Company and Harben as joint trustees, as a place where working men could convalesce, at a moderate charge, in order to resume an active life after illness. After Sir Henry's death, the administration of the Home was entrusted to the Carpenters' Company. The Governors (who are the Master, Wardens and Court of Assistants of the Company) appointed a Committee of Management to conduct the business of the Home from 1912 onwards. Harben's original endowment was augmented by additional gifts of shares and money from his daughter, Mrs Mary Woodgate Wharrie. The Home was requisitioned by the War Office from 1940-48, and re-opened for patients on 2 July 1948. In 1969 seven acres of land were sold for residential development, which enabled the complete refurbishment and modernisation of the Home. In 1980 the Governors decided to admit women as patients and allow them stay at the Home during their husbands' convalescence.

Stratford Estate
In 1767 the Company purchased "a freehold farm consisting of 63 acres of marsh land tithe free lying in the parish of West Ham" for 3,000 guineas (£3,150). Stratford was a tiny village in Essex, and sold vegetables and milk in London's markets, providing a healthy income for the Company. The construction of a railway line through the area saw revenues from agricultural lands fall, prompting the Company to lease the land for industrial and residential use. In 1861 the first leases were taken, and trades such as matchmaking, linen manufacture, chemical processing and distilling developed on the estate. Some of the factories and warehouses were built by the Carpenters' Company, as were many of the cottages constructed on the Eastern side of estate. The Stratford estate remained a centre of industry, with individual plots and units being let and sub-let with great fluidity. A small number of units, and approximately one third of the estate's cottages were destroyed by enemy action during the Second World War. After the war some of these sites were levelled to create room for new residential and commercial properties, and all residential accommodation was compulsorily purchased by the local authority in the 1960s. In addition to commerce and housing, parts of the estate have been host to a wider variety of uses: the Carpenters' Technical Institute gave hundreds of boys education in carpentry, plumbing, and related subjects between 1886 and 1905, and both the Carpenters' Institute and the Carpenters' and Docklands Youth Centre have provided social and recreational facilities for local residents since the Second World War.

Carpenters' Hall and Throgmorton Avenue
By 1429 the Company built its first hall, on land rented for twenty shillings a year from the Hospital of St Mary without Bishopsgate. A 'Great Hall', together with three houses in the east side and one house on the west, was built. A Hall has stood on this site ever since. The land was later purchased and left to the Company by the will of Thomas Smart, dated 1519. A new wing was added to the Hall in 1664, which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, thanks to its gardens and those of the Drapers' Hall acting as a firebreak. The Company gave hospitality to other Livery Companies who had not been so fortunate, including the Drapers' Company and to four successive Lord Mayors. The Hall continued to be rented out, and in 1717 was enlarged by building an extra storey at the top of the new wing. In 1736 Carpenters Buildings were erected near the Hall, and were leased out to tenants for the sum £110 per year, more than the rent for the Hall. Work began on a new Hall in 1876, and the old Hall gardens and surrounding buildings were redeveloped to provide office accommodation and create Throgmorton Avenue. The new Hall was opened in 1880, but survived only until the Second World War when it was destroyed by fire in May 1941, with only the outside walls remaining. The present Hall was designed by Austen Hall and built by Dove Brothers inside the surviving walls and opened in 1960.

The Carpenters' Company opened an Evening Institute in Stratford, East London, in 1888, offering classes to local people in plumbing, geometry, cookery and mechanical drawing. In 1891 the Institute became a day Technical School for local boys. As council provision for education improved the Company decided to close the school in 1905, much to the surprise of parents and in spite of the school's success. After the closure, the School's Campers' Club, Old Carpentarians' Football Club, Cricket Club and Debating Society all continued with their activities, meeting at the house of the former Headmaster, William Ping. By November 1909, a working committee had been formed to establish an old boys association and a circular letter calling for a general meeting was despatched. A preliminary expenses fund was also set up in order to defray printing, postage and other costs.

     The first meeting took the form of a reunion dinner at the Alexandra Hotel, Stratford on 22 January 1910. About 150 former students attended and the Old Carpentarians was officially launched. William Ping presided over a committee charged with setting up the framework and managing the new association. By 11 March 1910, a constitution and rules had been drawn up and approved by the general membership. The association was to be open only to former Day Students of the School, paying an annual subscription of 2 shillings. The committee duties included organising an annual dinner, an annual business meeting and a summer outing. The various clubs (having initiated the idea of an association) were to run their own affairs but should comprise only of association members. In 1911, in order to maximise participation, the committee decided to divide the membership into 20 districts with committee members being responsible for a particular district.          

The Association flourished in its early years but, by 1916, the duration of the First World War meant that meetings were less frequent and, inevitably attendance decreased. The death of William Ping in December 1918 meant the loss of the key person in the association. The re-formed committee met in March 1920 with the first post-war dinner being held at Carpenters' Hall in January 1921. Liveryman H. Westbury Preston (Master of the Carpenters Company in 1926) was appointed as the second President. A change to the membership was agreed in February 1926 when the committee decided to extend membership to the sons of Old Carpentarians.

     The outbreak of the Second World War meant the curtailing of activities, although reunions were held in 1940 and 1944. At the 1944 reunion, it was decided to lay a wreath each year on Mr Ping's grave.  The association also decided to institute two prizes, Ping and Porter Memorial Prizes, to the Carpenters' Road School (the school on the Company's estate closest to the old Jupp Road building). This prizegiving turned into an annual event with additional prizes - Preston, Butcher, Marshall - also being awarded. Links with the Company remained strong as, in 1950, the third President was appointed, Liveryman Alan Westbury Preston (Master 1958).
     In 1955, the Old Carpentarians celebrated the Jubilee of the School's closure. Preparations had been in hand for a while: from 1947-55, memorabilia had been collected together in a scrapbook; a desk was presented to the Company, and a commemorative plaque was placed on the site of the school, then the Telephone Exchange.
     By the 1970s, the original students were at least 75 years old or more, and an address list dated 1977 records 15 "active" names including that of the actor Stanley Holloway. From this period onwards, the Company entertained all surviving Old Boys       to a general luncheon in Carpenters' Hall. In 1982 the Old Carpentarians Association transferred all its funds to the Carpenters' Company and the Company undertook to meet the cost of the prizes awarded annually at Carpenters Road School.

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In 1881, Canon Samuel Augustus Barnett, vicar of St Jude's Whitechapel, and his wife Henrietta, instigated what was to become and annual art exhibition of the best contemporary British works, along with some Old Masters. This fine art loan exhibition was held at St Jude's School House, Commercial Rd. The Barnetts believed that pictures 'would educate people so that they might realise the extent and meaning of the past, the beauty of nature, and the substance of hope'. The free annual exhibitions proved very popular, attracting 10 000 visitors in 1881, rising to over 55 000 by 1886. This popularity persuaded the Barnetts of the need for a permanent exhibition space in the East End. Land was purchased next door to the John Passmore Edwards Library, with a large donation from Passmore Edwards himself, and Edgar Speyer, A F Yarrow and Lord Iveagh.

In March 1901, the Whitechapel Art Galley, a purpose built arts and crafts building designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, was opened on the Whitechapel High St for the first Spring Picture exhibition. More than 200 000 visitors passed through in six weeks. The Gallery continues to provide space for a diverse range of temporary exhibitions. It holds no permanent collection of its own.

The WG is governed by a trust scheme, registered with the Charity Commissioners founded in 1901, with Canon Barnett as the first chair until his death in 1913. Of the sixteen trustees on the board, eleven are nominated by the Statutory authorities and the other foundations and institutions with which the Gallery has long standing ties, and five are co-opted members, traditionally with expertise of experience complimenting the nominated members.

The WG has always featured a wide range of exhibitions, including those by local artists and children, modern pictures and exhibitions form the national museums of objects illustrative of trades of periods. In 1901, this was born out by the exhibition of contemporary artists such as Ford Maddox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones, followed by an exhibition of Chinese Life and Art. In 1914, and early retrospective exhibition - Twentieth Century Art: a Review of Modern Movements, was followed by Jewish Art, which included works by Jacob Epstein. Annual exhibits have been held at different time for the Women's International Art Club, and the Artists International Association, amongst others. Exhibitions of design have also been a regular part of the calendar, and have included trades unions as well as the Contemporary Arts Society. In 1939, the gallery was used by the Aid Spain movement for a fundraising exhibition in which Picasso's Guernica took centre stage. During the 1950s and 1960s, exhibitions included works by Modernist masters such as Braque, Kandinsky, Barbara Hepworth, Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg.

In 1982 WG Board felt the need for a separate Trust to be created to channel non-government funding in the form of exhibition sponsorship and donations to the gallery, and a planning group for a Development Trust was established. This led to the formation of the Whitechapel Art Gallery Foundation on 1 Feb 1984. At the same time an Advisory Board was set up to provide expert advice to the gallery on areas such as advertising, marketing and sponsorship. In 1988, an annual joint meeting of the Gallery and Foundation trustees was instituted.

Recent exhibitions have included artist such as Liam Gillick, Gilbert & George, Eva Hesse, Bruce Nauman, Gerhard Richter and Rosemarie Trockel, and survey exhibitions Inside the Visible, Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa, and Live in Your Head.

The Whitechapel Art Gallery Society was formed in February 1948, in order to support the gallery financially through private and business subscription and to serve as an opinion forming body on Gallery policy. It was intended that Society subscriptions be used to fund visible improvements to the gallery, however they tended to be absorbed into the day to day running costs. The Society declined in the 1960s, but was relaunched in 1970 when a salaried secretary was appointed. The Secretary resigned the same year 1970, however the financial records continue until 1978.

The American Friends of the Whitechapel Art Gallery Foundation Inc was incorporated in New York in 1987 to raise funds for the gallery in the USA.

The Royal Festival Hall opened on 3 May 1951, providing London a replacement major concert hall to the Queens Hall destroyed in 1941. It was built by the London County Council as a contribution to the Festival of Britain, May-September 1951, and was the only structure planned to remain permanently on the site.

Responsibility for the design was given to a team at the London County Council architectural department. Robert H Matthew, Architect to the Council and J L Martin, Deputy Architect, were primarily responsible for the planning and design of the building. Edwin Williams, Senior Architect, was in charge of general organisation and progress and Peter Moro, was Associated Architect. In April 1988 Royal Festival Hall became the first post-war public building awarded Grade I listing.

The Hall initially included a large rectangular concert auditorium, which seats 2900 patrons, and a smaller recital hall. The building has been subject to ongoing development. In 1954, the organ was completed in main auditorium, and between 1962 and 1968 further building was undertaken on the site. Royal Festival Hall reopened in 1965, after eight months closure, with exterior walls slightly extended and refaced. In March 1967 two additional concert spaces were opened: the Queen Elizabeth Hall, seating over 900, and the Purcell Room seating more than 370. The adjacent Hayward Gallery opened in July 1968.

In 1983 the Greater London Council, successor administrative body to the London County Council, extended opening of the foyers of Royal Festival Hall to the public all day, seven days a week with free events and exhibitions being offered. In April 1986, the South Bank Board, a constituent part of the Arts Council of Great Britain, took over administration of the Southbank Centre concert halls following abolition of the Greater London Council.

In 1988 the Arts Council's Poetry Library, a collection of modern British poetry established in 1953, took up residency on level five of Royal Festival Hall.

From its beginning Southbank Centre concert halls have included a varied programme of musical and artistic events including orchestral, jazz and contemporary music, ballet, opera, lectures, recitals, readings and visual exhibitions.

The Office of the Armoury and the Ordnance Office both evolved in the early 15th century from the activities of the Privy Wardrobe, one of the departments of the Royal Household, with offices at the Tower of London. The Tower was the most important arsenal in the kingdom, with its own workforce of armourers, bowyers, fletchers, etc., to maintain the arms and armour stored there.

The first Master of the Ordnance was appointed in 1414, and the Ordnance Office became responsible for the supply of munitions and equipment to the army and navy. Prior to the establishment of a standing army or navy, the Ordnance Office was the only permanent military department in England. As a result the importance and status of the Master rose steadily, and from 1483 all holders of the office were knights or peers.

The first mention of an official solely responsible for armour appears in 1423, and the first use of the title Master of the King's Armoury occurs in 1462. The Office of the Armoury was responsible for the provision and maintenance of body armour, and was much smaller than that of the Ordnance. It rose in importance briefly when Henry VIII established the royal workshops at Greenwich in 1515, but with the decrease in the use of armour during the 17th century, the Office of the Armoury was abolished in 1671, and its duties were taken over by the Board of Ordnance.

The role of the Board of Ordnance continued to grow and develop during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was responsible for the issue of all guns and warlike stores to the ships of the navy and the permanent fortifications (the Sea Service), and the issue of small arms, the provision of artillery and engineer trains to the army (the Land Service). It was also responsible for the development of weapons, and in addition to its headquarters at the Tower of London, it had numerous other establishments, such as the Royal Arsenal, Royal Academy and Royal Laboratory at Woolwich, and the powder mills at Faversham and Waltham Abbey. The Board was finally abolished in 1855 and its duties merged with those of the War Office.

The Royal Armouries museum has its basis in the arsenal maintained at the Tower of London, and the royal armours of the Tudor and Stuart kings. The first displays were opened to the public in the second half of the 17th century: the Line of Kings, a display of armours dedicated to the kings of England; the Spanish Armoury, celebrating the victory over the Armada; and the Grand Storehouse, displaying captured trophies, small arms and artillery.

In the early 19th century the Board of Ordnance, which was responsible for the maintenance of the collection, began the process of re-organising the displays on a more academic basis. It also purchased important historic pieces to augment the collections. When the Board was abolished in 1855, the Armouries came under the control of the War Office. The first part-time curator, Viscount Dillon, was appointed in 1897.

In 1904 responsibility for the Armouries was transferred from the War Office to the Office of Works, which was already responsible for the buildings of the Tower of London. The first full time curator, Charles ffoulkes, was appointed in 1910, and the ancient office of Master of the Armouries revived in 1935, as the Armouries achieved the status of a national museum.

The National Heritage Act 1983 transferred control of the Armouries from the Department of the Environment (the successor to the Office of Works) to the Board of Trustees, and the Museum was granted the prefix `Royal' in 1984. Fort Nelson, the national museum of artillery, was opened in 1995, the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds in 1996, and the redisplay of the White Tower completed in 1998.

Born 26 June 1868, son of Rev. Edmund Salusbury ffoulkes, BD. He was educated at Radley School, Shrewsbury School, and St John's College, Oxford.

He left Oxford without a degree and went on to study art. His interest turned to the metalwork and the study of metallic artefacts and thence to arms and armour. He was invited to give lectures for the Oxford History Board on Armour and military subjects, gaining a Bachelor of Letters, 1911. In 1913, he was appointed Curator of the Tower Armouries, 1913-1935, and Master of the Armouries, 1935-1938. In 1917, ffoulkes obtained government approval of a plan to collect historical material relating to the current war, and was appointed First Curator and Secretary Imperial War Museum (IWM), 1917-1933, and following his retirement from the IWM he became one of its Trustees, 1934-1946. He remained in his part time post at the Tower until the age of 70, in 1938 and continued to publish his writings.

ffoulkes was also Lieutenant RNVR, 1914-1918; Major Royal Marines, unattached, 1918-1920; Member, War Office Committee on Military Museum; Hon. Freeman, Armourers' Company; Volunteer Warden, ARP, 1939; Sergeant of Pioneers, Home Guard, 20th Bn Middlesex Regt, 1940-1945; Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, 1929; and was awarded Hon. DLitt. Oxon, 1936; CB 1934; OBE 1925.

In 1942, he married, Dorothy Agnes Garratt, MBE. He died 22 April 1947.

Publications:
Armour and Weapons, 1909; new edition, Gaya's Traité des Armes, 1911; Arms and Armour in the University of Oxford; The Armourer and his Craft, 1912; Ironwork, 1913; Survey and Inventory of the Tower of London, 1917; Catalogue of the Armourers' and Brasiers' Company; Notes on the Pierpont Morgan XIIIth Century Old Testament, 1927; The Gun-founders of England, 1936; Sword, Lance, and Bayonet, 1938; Arms and the Tower, 1939; Arms and Armament, 1945; many papers in Archæologia, Journal of Army Historical Research, etc.

Cornelius Humphreys, was the son of David Humphreys, of Llanelli, Camarthen. He matriculated at Jesus College Oxford, 1743, aged 32. In 1752, he was appointed Rector of St Mary, Somerset, London. It is thought that he was Chaplain at on of the Chapels of the Tower of London. A transcript of his burial monument states that he was a minister of this (unidentified) chapel for thirty years, [1740-1770]. He married Agnes, who died 1789 aged 69.

The Tower of London was originally constructed in the 11th century as a fortress and has remained in periodic use particularly during times of civil disorder, as well as being a royal residence.

The Tower served several important administrative functions, housing the Privy Wardrobe, one of the departments of the Royal Household, until the mid 15th century; the Royal Mint until 1812; and the Public Record Office until the 1850s. It had an important military function, not only was it the most important arsenal in the kingdom, but also the home of the Board of Ordnance, the government department responsible for the supply of munitions and equipment to the army and navy, until its abolition in 1855.

The Tower was also used as a state prison up until the mid 17th century, and then again during the First and Second World Wars. It is particularly well known as the place of execution of two Queens of England, Anne Boleyn (1535) and Catherine Howard (1542). It was also the original home of the Royal Observatory (before it moved to Greenwich), and the King's Menagerie (the last of the animals were relocated to London Zoo in 1834). It is currently the repository of the Crown Jewels.

At its height the Tower was a thriving community under the control of the Constable and his Lieutenant. It had a large temporary population made up of the officers and workers of the Board of Ordnance and the Royal Mint, but also a significant permanent population, including the military garrison and the yeomen warders, and their families. The Tower also had its own doctor, hospital, and chapel.

The Tower was first opened to the public in 1660, but its development as a visitor attraction dates to the mid 19th century. It was then that the first official guidebooks appeared, the Jewel House was opened to visitors, and the displays of the Tower Armouries (now the Royal Armouries), where placed on a more academic basis.

The Runnymede Trust is one of the most influential and respected think tanks on race-relations in Britain. It was formerly established on 1 August 1968, by Deed of Trust, as an educational charity. It had developed partly as a response to the growth of racist politics, especially those of Enoch Powell, which looked at the time to be turning into a mass movement, and also as an attempt to create an equivalent to the American Anti-Defamation League in Britain. The founding members of the organisation were Jim Rose, Anthony Lester, Philip Mason, Sir Joseph Simpson, Mark Bonham-Carter, Dipak Nandy, Nicholas Deakin and Jock Campbell. The funding for its establishment came from the New World Foundation in New York, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust and the Hilden Trust. Dipak Nandy became the Trust's first Director. Since its inception, the Trust has worked to challenge racial discrimination and promote a successful multi-ethnic Britain by providing the facts of racial discrimination and the techniques for overcoming it, stimulating debate and suggesting strategies in public policy. Its principal function in the early years was to provide briefs, background papers and research data for MPs, civil servants, local government and others concerned with policy. It provided a means of responding swiftly and authoritatively on key issues as media attention to the subject of race relations increased. The Trust's Bulletin was initiated in 1969 and has been published regularly ever since. In later years, Runnymede published reports designed to interpret government policy to a wider audience at the same time as briefing government on public opinion. Through the 1990s, Runnymede's role shifted from that of providing position or interpretative papers to working more closely with government in an advisory capacity. Over the years, Runnymede has produced key reports such as Colour and Citizenship (1969) an authoritative rebuttal to Enoch Powell's anti-immigration populist stance; A Very Light Sleeper: The Persistence and Dangers of Anti-Semitism (1994), This is where I live - stories and pressures in Brixton (1996), and School Exclusions and the Race Factor (1999). The Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain was established as an independent Runnymede inquiry in 1997 culminating in the publication of The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain: the Parekh Report in October 2000. Runnymede has produced regular bulletins called Race and Immigration: The Runnymede Trust Bulletin, which became The Runnymede Bulletin in 1992. The Runnymede Trust was one of the organisations responsible for the establishment of the UK Race and Europe Network (UKREN) in 1996. A Board of Trustees decides the policies of the organisation and the Director is responsible for developing strategies.

The collection was collated by Julian Robinson, Head of the Fashion School, in the 1970s.

In 1882, Charles Swinstead (1815-1890), an artist and art teacher, selected a site at Crouch End Hill, north London, and commissioned a purpose-built private school of art complete with teaching studios and an adjacent headmaster's house. Building was completed in 1882 and the Hornsey School of Art was opened officially in the autumn of the same year.At the first meeting of the Committee of the School on 18 August 1882, responsibility for its financial and administrative control was formally invested in the owner and headmaster, Charles Swinstead. At first the School was only open on three mornings and three evenings a week, later extended to a five-day week and Saturday mornings. Subjects taught included drawing, oil painting, watercolour painting, geometry and perspective. Swinstead's role was gradually taken over by his son, Frank Hillyard Swinstead, who became headmaster on his father's death in 1890.
In 1894, the management structure of the School changed. Regular annual grants from Middlesex County Council were initiated in this year, and the School's Committee was replaced by a Joint Committee with the Council. The Joint Committee acquired greater responsibility, and was soon answerable for most aspects of the running of the School. The curriculum was expanded to include subjects of industrial and practical value, such as modelling, design and wood carving. By 1904, the School was under the joint control of the Board of Education and the Middlesex County Council. Numbers were increasing, and the need for larger accommodation led to the conversion of the headmaster's house into teaching rooms.
Following World War One, when more classes relating to trade, such as lithography, etching and fashion drawing, were added to the curriculum, the County Council took over full financial responsibility for the School from the Swinstead family (1920) and appointed a reconstituted governing body. The Council bought the freehold of the property in 1925. Frank Swinstead was succeeded as headmaster in 1927 by John Charles Moody, who presided over a major development of the School buildings. A new extension was opened in 1931, and in the same year the School was renamed the Hornsey School of Arts and Crafts'. Student numbers continued to grow, and teaching subjects soon included graphics and printing. Teaching continued throughout World War Two, despite bomb damage to the buildings, and in 1944 photography was added to the curriculum. In 1947, Moody retired and J G Platt was appointed principal of the School. In 1951, the School became a constituent college of the University of London Institute of Education for the purposes of awarding the Art Teachers Certificate, and in 1952 was renamed theHornsey College of Arts and Crafts'. This was subsequently abbreviated to `Hornsey College of Art'. Platt retired in 1957 and was replaced by Harold Herbert Shelton during a period of great reforms in advanced art education, and the introduction of the Diploma in Art and Design (DipAD). The College grew rapidly, expanding into several annexes scattered around north London. In 1965, the London Government Act removed the College from the control of Middlesex County Council and made it the responsibility of the newly formed Borough of Haringey.
The 1970s saw a huge change in the life of the College, when building began at a site in Cat Hill with the intention of housing the whole College; the work was finished in 1979. In 1973, the Hornsey College of Art had merged with Enfield and Hendon Colleges to form Middlesex Polytechnic, and 1981 saw the final removal from the Crouch End Hill site.

The Hall-Carpenter Archives, named in honour of the lesbian novelist Marguerite Radclyffe Hall and Edward Carpenter, the writer on social and sexual reform, exist to publicise and preserve the records and publications of gay organisations and individuals. The Hall-Carpenter Archives had their roots in the Gay Monitoring and Archive Project established by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) in 1980 with the purpose of scrutinising the media for evidence of discrimination and caring for material deposited with CHE by earlier gay rights organisations. The Gay Monitoring and Archive Project later became separate from CHE, and spent some time in the care of one of its founders, Julian Meldrum, who was employed on a part-time basis by a Manpower Services Commission grant. It was incorporated in 1982 as a limited company under the name of the Hall-Carpenter Memorial Archive Ltd, with a remit of recording and documenting the history of gays and lesbians in Britain. The first Directors were either librarians and information scientists, journalists working for gay publications, or gay rights campaigners interested in maintaining a historical resource. Charitable status was granted in 1983. During this period the Archives were given office space at the National Council for Civil Liberties. From 1984 to 1989, the Hall-Carpenter Archives were housed in the London Lesbian and Gay Centre, and were staffed mainly by volunteers, who collected archives, journals and ephemera, indexed and sorted press cuttings, wrote publications and ran archival projects. Funding was provided by various grants, most notably from the Greater London Council. GLC funding was withdrawn in 1986, and despite approaches, no replacement funding was available, forcing the Archives to leave the LLGC, and be housed at various locations.
The press cuttings collection was moved [in 1988] to the offices of SIGMA (an organisation conducting sexual research in relation to HIV) in Brixton, South London. Their transfer to the Greenwich Lesbian and Gay Centre was arranged by Mark Collins in the late 1990s. In February 1997, the collection was transferred to the Collections Room of the Cat Hill campus of Middlesex University on a ten-year loan. On 2nd June 1998 the collection was formally opened by a Member of Parliament, Evan Harris (standing in for Stephen Twigg MP). The collection was renamed the 'Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive' in 2001.

The collection was collated by Colin McArthur during the course of business of Half-Brick Images, his commercial picture business. McArthur was born in 1934, and was formerly Head of Distribution at the British Film Institute. Now a freelance teacher and writer, especially on Hollywood cinema, British television and Scottish culture, he is also a lecturer in the Visual and Cultural Media Department of Middlesex University.

Collected by Art and Design Learning Resources, Middlesex Polytechnic.

Paul Peter Piech was born in Brooklyn in 1920. He studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York and the Chelsea School of Art in London. After working in advertising, Piech returned to Chelsea to teach graphic design, also teaching at the London College of Printing and Middlesex Polytechnic. In 1959 Piech set up The Taurus Press at his home in Bushey Heath. This private press produced books which defied usual printing conventions of setting, spacing and layout, often reflecting Piech's deeply held pacifist views, and were illustrated with his trademark linocuts and woodcuts. Piech died in 1996. Further information on the Taurus Press may be found in Kenneth Hardacre, 'The private press of Paul Piech', The Penrose annual 1976: the international review of the graphic arts (ed) Stanley greenwood and Clive Goodacre (Northwood Publications, London, 1976).

The Society of Radiographers was founded in 1920 at the instigation of radiologists Albert Forder, and Dr Robert Knox, of King's College Hospital. Forder, Knox along with Dr Walmsley and Mr Blackhall formed a sub-committee to draft the rules for the admission of members. Membership was open to applicants who had been actively and continually employed for not less than ten years in the electro-therapeutic department or the X-ray department of a hospital or institution approve by the Council. In 1921, examinations were introduced for entry to membership, and a syllabus developed. There were 67 members in 1921, which rose to 164 by 1923.

In 1930, a branch of the Society was formed in South Africa, and established a pattern of branch formation with local committee management that was propagated in the UK during the 1930s.The Scottish Radiographic Society was formed in 1927 became a branch of the Society in 1936, the South West Branch in 1937, the North West in 1942, the Midland and the North East in 1943. The first Annual Conference of the Society was held in Bath 1947.

The society was active in the area of training for members in the context of a move towards national registration of auxiliary medical professions. In 1932 a number of hospitals were inspected and officially recognised a training schools - including Guy's, King's College, The Royal Northern and the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in London, to which were added the Royal Infirmary and the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, the Middlesex Hospital, London, St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, and the General Infirmary, Johannesburg, were added in 1934. The Board of Medical Auxiliaries was established for professional registration purposes in 1937. The Society's professional journal began in 1935, a Benevolent Fund was set up in 1936, and the first Fellowship examinations were held in 1937. It was also concerned with the employment conditions for radiographers, and in the late 1930s surveyed 35 county councils concerning salaries and terms of employment for radiographers.

During World War 2, the Society's Office was moved to Staplehurst, Kent, and the Society was asked to provide training for the Emergency Medical Service and a scheme to train assistants to qualified radiographers was devised. Radiography was designated a reserved occupation in 1940 due to the staff shortage. Training and the status of the radiographer continued to be an issue during and after the War, but their main energies were directed to the formation of the National Health Service, was launched in 1948. In 1951, the Cope Report was published, which recommended the setting up of a statutory council to maintain registers of medical auxiliaries qualified for employment in the NHS. Statutory Registration took effect under the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act, 1960, and was implemented in 1962 for radiographers.

During the 1970s, the Society concentrated its energies on education and industrial relations, as well as consolidating its financial position. The extension of training for radiographers from two to three years was raised, as was the incorporation of the developing area of nuclear medicine the in to the syllabus. The system of payment for radiographers for emergency work was addressed, and the serious concerns about the loss of members from the profession. There were over 6,500 members in 1970.

The 1970s also was increased branch activity and a number were restructured - the Wessex Sub-branch was granted full Branch status, the North-East sub-branch became the Northumbrian Branch, and new branches were formed - East Mercia, and Devon and Cornwall.
In 1976, it was proposed that the Society become registered as a trade union. This required some restructuring within the Society to form a new charitable company to hold the Society's assets and de-register the Society as a charity. This led to the formation of the College of Radiographers, Jan 1977 to take over the educational and professional responsibilities. In 1990, the Society became affiliated with the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

Membership of the Society reached 10,000 in 1982, and by 1995 stood at 13,500. In 1999, the structure of the Society was revised, and the branches abolished and replaced by eight new regions and national councils for Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Society initially occupied premises at the headquarters of the British Institute of Radiology, Seymour Place, before moving in 1926 to the headquarters of the British Institute of Radiology at 32 Welbeck St. In 1968, the Society relocated to its own premises at 14 Upper Wimpole St, then as space demands increased purchased No 13 Upper Wimpole St where it moved in 1986. It has since occupied premises at Eversholt St, and is currently located in Mill Street, London.

The Howard de Walden Estate dates from 1715 when Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, began the development of Cavendish Square and the streets around it. This land had previously formed part of the Marylebone Estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. It had passed from Margaret Holles, nee Cavendish, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, to her daughter Henrietta Cavendish Harley. At the death of Henrietta's husband, Edward Harley, in 1741, this new Harley Estate passed to his only daughter, Margaret Cavendish Harley, who in 1734 had married William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland. It was subsequently known as the Portland Estate, and was handed down to successive Dukes of Portland. In 1879, the 5th Duke of Portland died without issue and his estates were divided between his sisters, (according to the terms of the 4th Duke's will), and his cousin, who succeeded him as the sixth Duke. The Portland Estate eventually passed to the last surviving sister, Lucy Joan Ellis, who was the widow of the 6th Lord Howard de Walden, and has remained in this family since then.

The Estate's first business trust, General Real Estates Investment and Trust Limited (GREIT), was formed in 1918, changing its name to Howard de Walden Estates Limited (HDWEL) in 1953.
The company was incorporated in its present form in 1963, but the estate is still owned by the family.

During the twentieth century two major portions of the Estate were sold: in 1914 Portland Town, an area east of St John's Wood High Street around 60 acres in extent, and in 1925 another 40 acres, much of it along Oxford Street, south of Cavendish Square and east of Great Portland Street.

Born, 21 January 1929; educated at Ardingly College; studied modern history at Keble College, Oxford, graduating in 1951; studied history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art gaining a postgraduate diploma in 1954 and PhD in 1962 with his thesis on the landscape painting of Thomas Gainsborough. Appointed assistant keeper of the London Museum, 1954 and director 1970; director of the National Portrait Gallery, 1974–1994; he published and curated exhibitions on a wide range of artists , his specialist subject remaining Gainsborough. Chair of the Walpole Society 1981-1996 and Vice-President 1996-2005; elected to Society of Antiquaries, 1971, appointed CBE 1986, Died 25 December 2005. Publications: include: A catalogue of watercolour drawings by Thomas Rowlandson in the London Museum, HMSO, 1960; Landscapes by Thomas Gainsborough, Nottingham University Art Gallery, 1962; The drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, Zwemmer, c1970; Catalogue of the oil paintings in the London Museum : with an introduction on painters and the London scene from the fifteenth century, H.M.S.O, 1970; Gainsborough as printmaker, Zwemmer, c1971; Rowlandson : watercolours and drawings, Phaidon Press, 1972; Gainsborough : paintings and drawings, Phaidon, 1975; Portraits by Graham Sutherland National Portrait Gallery, 1977; The art of Graham Sutherland, Phaidon, 1980; Thomas Gainsborough, Tate Gallery, 1980; The landscape paintings of Thomas Gainsborough : a critical text and catalogue raisonné, Philip Wilson for Sotheby Publications, 1982; Gainsborough drawings : a supplement to the catalogue raisonné, Master Drawings Association, 1983; The portrait in British art : masterpieces bought with the help of the National Art-Collections Fund, National Portrait Gallery, 1991; British paintings of the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, Cambridge University Press, 1993; Galinou, Mireille and Hayes, John, London in paint : oil paintings in the collection at the Museum of London, Museum of London, 1996; The letters of Thomas Gainsborough, Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2001.

The materials held here cover a wide variety of popular movements and issues in recent Latin American history from both internal (in the form of publications by local pressure groups, oppositional parties and governments) and external perspectives (through the reports and bulletins of NGOs, international conferences and foreign political parties). Inevitably (given the military governments, revolutionary movements and increasingly dominant neo-liberal economic policies which have marked this era in the continent's history) major topics include human rights, poverty, economic sovereignty and the condition of indigenous peoples, whilst the role of the United States in the hemisphere is also considered. Another aspect unique to Latin America is the large amount of material originating from Christian groups, many seeking to "exercise an option in favour of the poor" as promulgated by the II Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Throughout the period covered by the materials held here Mexico was governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI) although the relatively small number of party political documents in the collection may be seen as testimony to the limited party political challenges to its hegemony. However, increasing concern with the maintenance of internal order in the 1960s was both cause and consequence of the rise in opposition by other organisations to de facto one-party rule, as evinced in these materials by the publications of revolutionary movements, human rights organisations and groups expressing solidarity with the students massacred at Tlatelolco in 1968. Subsequently, the economic crisis which gradually enveloped Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s (as a consequence of high government expenditure and an increasing reliance on falling oil revenues) is reflected in the workers and peasants' movements represented here which prefigure the Zapatista uprising of 1994.

The civil wars, guerilla movements, human rights abuses and economic problems afflicting Central America in the 1970s and 1980s are the chief topics discussed in these documents, primarily authored by non-governmental organisations.

The collection currently consists of materials dating from the three decades that followed the 1959 revolution. Many of the items are official publications originating from either the Communist Party of Cuba or from various government ministries, though in practice the distinction between party and state became increasing blurred. There are also a large number of pamphlets featuring speeches by Fidel Castro. Given Cuba's situation during this period as it faced the antagonism of the United States, sought to maintain a degree of independence within the Soviet orbit and championed the non-aligned movement it is unsurpising that many of these speeches are concerned with foreign policy and foreign affairs (including the wars in Vietnam and Angola and the problems of debt that increasingly faced the whole of Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s). Other materials deal with the transistion of Cuba to a state-controlled planned economy and the problems of reconciling this with civil and human rights, though it must be noted that the majority of the items held here (whether produced internally or externally) are broadly in sympathy with the Castro regime.

Following the assassination of Trujillo in 1961 the Dominican Republic endured a series of shortlived governments punctuated by coups prior to the United States military intervention in 1965. This sought to lessen potential communist influence on the island by denying the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) power, and led to the 1966 election victory of Joaquín Balaguer Ricardo. Balaguer ruled until 1978, when American pressure forced him to accept the election victory of the PRD's Antonio Guzmán. Guzmán and his successor Salvador Jorge Blanco checked the role of the military in politics, and attenpted to implement reforms, but the PRD still lost the 1986 elections and Balaguer returned to power. Economically, this period saw the Dominican Republic prosper with a rise in sugar prices, but when these began to fall, US import quotas were cut and oil prices rose. The result was an economic crisis which saw IMF intervention and food riots by 1985. The materials held here reflect these political and economic developments, with the predominant perspectives being those of Christian organisations working with the peasantry and of the main union federation, the Central General de Trabajadores (CGT).

The majority of the materials held here date from the years of Duvalier rule over Haiti, with first François (Papa Doc', 1957-1971) and then his son Jean-Claude (Baby Doc', 1971-1986) controlling the country through a mixture of fraudulent elections, populist gestures and the backing of the military. The elder Duvalier in particular took steps early in his regime to purge the army of officers considered potentially disloyal and to augment it with a loyal rural militia known as the tonton makouts. Under this dictatorship Haitians suffered both human rights abuses and increasing hardship as government corruption ensured that little foreign aid reached the population in general. The issues of aid, health, refugees fleeing the regime and human rights consequently predominate in this collection, which originates in the main from overseas NGOs and Christian charities as well as United States government bodies.

Puerto Rico has been dominated by the United States since its seizure from Spain in 1898. Its ambiguous status, resolved first by making it an unincorporated territory of the United States in 1917 and then by according it Commonwealth status in 1952, persists to this day. Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States, serve in its armed forces and yet cannot vote in Presidential elections. Unsurprisingly constitutional issues feature prominently in the materials held here, with both pro-independence groups on the island and in the United States represented as well as the United Nations Commission on De-Colonization. However, there is a lack of material from those parties which have successfully won referenda to maintain the island's current status, as well as from those who campaign for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state, and probably a disproportionate quantity from the anti-American left.

Following the CIA-backed military coup which removed the reformist government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 Guatemala endured thirty years of military rule, characterised by a tragic spiral of human rights abuses and the growth of guerilla insurgencies, both reinforcing the other. By 1982 the revolutionary groups had merged into the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) and it was with this organisation that the civilian government elected in 1984 began negotiations in 1987. Despite various peace agreements and elections violence, abuse and poverty have remained endemic in Guatemala, with army leaders such as General Efrain Rios Montt still not having been brought to face trial. The majority of the materials held here date from the era of military rule and reflect the concerns of NGOs and local groups regarding human rights, poverty, the indigenous peoples, and the need for development. In addition there are materials from guerilla organisations and from Church groups, though the amount of actual party political material is limited.

Most of the materials held here date from the late 1970s and early 1980s, a period in which the tensions that had plagued El Salvador since the 1930s finally erupted into civil war. The war with Honduras in 1969 had exacerbated economic problems and the demand for land reform, whilst the rigging of the 1972 election against the Christian Democratic Party (PDC)'s Jos Napoeon Duarte diminished people's belief in the likelihood of effecting peaceful change. Authoritarian rule and human rights abuses on top of the above led to the formation of a plethora of leftist political and guerrilla groups and an alliance was formed between the Frente Democratico Revolucionario (FDR) and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Despite elections and new constitutional guarantees the continued operation of paramilitary death squads with the support of the army meant the FDR-FMLN fought on until the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992. The roles of the United States (which continued to supply aid to the country throughout the 1980s) and the Catholic Church (including that of Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered in 1980) in the civil war are covered by the materials here, as are the problems of refugees and the terrible human rights abuses and state violence that occurred. The materials originate from NGOs, Church groups, revolutionary organisations, trade unions and political parties, as well as from the United States government.

From 1963 to 1978 Honduras endured a series of military coups and disputed elections as well as the 1969 war with El Salvador and the devastation caused by Hurricane Fifi which killed an estimated 10,000 in 1974. Though the country moved towards an ostensibly civilian form of government from 1978, culminating three years later in an election win for the Partido Liberal de Honduras (PLH), the growing insurgencies in neighbouring El Salvador and Nicaragua during this period led to an upsurge in regional tensions, and a growing influx of refugees. As Honduras became drawn into the US-backed Contras' struggle against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua the army used the opportunity to crack down on dissent at home, and reports of human rights abuses began to increase. When the Sandinistas lost the 1990 Nicaraguan election the significance of Honduras to the United States largely disappeared, as did the aid that had formerly been liberally provided, leaving the country facing the same economic concerns as in the 1970s. The materials held here date primarily from the late 70s to the end of the main Central American guerrilla struggle, and deal with both the country's economic situation and with the war and its human rights consequences. The material comes from trades unions and political groups, though not from the major parties, as well as from external human rights organisations and NGOs.

Most of the materials held in this collection at present date from period surrounding the 1979 revolution, dealing with the decline and fall of the Somoza dynasty and the progress of the Sandinista government which replaced it. Thus there are reports from NGOs concerned with human rights abuses and economic and social conditions under the old regime alongside publications by and about opposition groups of both gradualist and revolutionary persuasions. Post-revolutionary materials detail the struggle against the US-backed Contra forces, the controversial elections of 1984 and the progress of the Central American Peace Plan. A large proportion of these are authored either by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) themselves or by organisations expressing solidarity with them, including some Church groups despite the antipathy of the Catholic heirerchy to the revolution. It must be noted that the overwhelming majority of the items held here are can be judged to be sympathetic towards the Sandinistas, reflecting inevitably the priorities of those who collected and housed the material.

Costa Rica's political stability during the period covered here stands in marked contrast to the situation in other countries in the region. Since 1949 it has been a relatively successful presidential democracy. The materials here tend not to originate from the major political parties but instead mainly come from organisations concerned with social and economic conditions in Costa Rica, particularly the problems of land reform and the countryside. Internal and external, academic and practical and Christian and secular bodies are all represented.

The majority of the materials in the collection at present date from the 1970s and 1980s, during which time Panama, despite a democratic façade, was effectively ruled by the military. During the 1970s increasing Panamanian discontent with the 1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Canal Treaty led eventually to its renegotiation with the United States in 1977, and it is the canal, these treaties and their consequences for the economy, society and independence of Panama which dominate the content of these items. Bodies from which the items originate include the military junta, the US government, NGOs and homegrown oppositional movements. The increasing repressiveness of the Panamanian regime under Noriega coupled with the post-1982 economic problems of the country are also alluded to in the materials held here, with the plight of the indigenous population in particular being highlighted.

Colombia has a long tradition of both democracy and political violence, and this remains true for the period covered by the bulk of this collection. Prior to 1974 the country had been ruled for sixteen years by a National Front which allowed for the alternation in power of the two main parties, the Partido Conservador Colombiano (Colombian Conservative Party, PCC) and the Partido Liberal Colombiano (Colombian Liberal Party, PLC). This period also saw the emergence of a variety of leftist guerrilla groups, most prominently the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia--FARC), the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional--ELN), the Popular Liberation Army (Ejército Popular de Liberación--EPL) and the 19th of April Movement (Movimiento 19 de Abril--M-19). The transition to open competition between the Liberals and Conservatives in 1974 failed to end the insurgency, which was further complicated by the increasing involvement in the fighting of drugs cartels and right-wing paramilitary organisations, the latter with suspected links to both the cartels and the government. The 1970s and 1980s bore witness to a cycle of repression, violence, human rights abuses and failed peace talks. Of the parties actually involved in this conflict only the M-19 are represented here, along with other small radical socialist groups. However the causes and the consequences of the civil war, especially Colombia's gross economic inequalities and the catalogue of disappearances and human rights abuses, dominate the agendas of the NGOs, pressure groups, trade unions, Church bodies and international organisations whose publications are held here. As the country remains volatile it is likely that these issues will continue to predominate in any new material that is collected..

The majority of the materials held in this collection date from the country's last period of military dictatorship (1972-1979) and its subsequent return to democracy following the introduction of a new constitution in 1979. The dictatorship had overseen the growth of the country's external debt to record levels, which exacerbated the effects of the economic crisis of the 1980s, when global recession coupled with a fall in petroleum prices forced Ecuador to adopt stringent austerity measures in order to meet debt-rescheduling requirements. It is these economic conditions and the continuing inequality of Equadorian society which dominate the materials held here, which originate mainly from univerisities and institutes, trade unions (notably the Central Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Clasistas(CEDOC)) and peasant and indigenous organisations rather than from the established political parties. Their concerns range from rural conditions and the need for agricultural reform, across the struggles of the trade union movement, to the situation of the Indian population of Ecuador.

In 1968 the government of Fernando Belaúnde Terry and his Acción Popular party was deposed by a leftist military coup following a currency crisis and a continuing guerrilla war in the countryside. For the next twelve years a revolutionary' military government ran the country, although this period can be divided into two distinct phases. From 1968 to 1975 the new president, Juan Velasco Alvarado, instituted a programme of land reform, industrialisation and nationalisation which sought to end United States dominance over Peru as well as reduce the country's reliance on exports. However, once Velasco was replaced by Francisco Morales Bermudez Cerruti thesecond phase' of the revolution took the form of a move back towards the free market and the increasing embrace of new neo-liberal economic ideas. Civilian rule returned to the country in 1980, but economic problems continued and the emergence of new armed movements such as Sendero Luminoso and Tupac Amuru led to the escalation of the so-called dirty war' and a consequent increase in accusations of human rights infractions. This collection holds materials published by the military government of the 1970s, many on land reform, as well of others from left-wing groups like the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) and the Vanguardia Revolucionaria. Also represented are peasant organisations and trades union federations, as well as independent studies of the Peruvian economic situation in the 1970s. As thedirty war' worsened in the 1980s an increasing number of publications, from both local political parties, church groups (such as the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America) and NGOs like Amnesty, are concerned with human rights in the country, while other items concentrate on the increasing problem of inflation. The majority of materials currently held in the collection date from the period between the 1968 coup and the election of Fujimori in 1992.

The majority of the materials held here date from the period between 1964 and 1982 when Bolivia, barring a brief period at the end of the 1970s, was under military rule. Despite the expansion of the mining sector and a period of economic growth lasting to the mid-1970s a succession of military leaders continued to use repressive tactics against opposition parties and unions, and following an economic downturn the human rights situation worsened, culminating in the cocaine cartel-financed presidency of General Luis García Meza (1980-1982) in which both paramilitary groups and tactics of arbitrary arrest, detention and torture were used to cow the opposition. This collection includes materials from unions (and union federations such as the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB)), political parties and internal and external human rights pressure groups, as well as government proclamations and pronouncements (mostly regarding the mining industry). There are also reports from groups working with indigenous peoples, as well as material produced by the Roman Catholic Church. The reaction of these organisations to the transition to civilian rule after 1982 and the country's consequent economic problems are also represented in the collection.

The coup in Chile in 1973 must rank as amongst the most important and controversial events in the history of Latin America since the Second World War. The holdings here certainly attest to that, more numerous than for any other nation and predominantly concerned with the Allende government and the junta that replaced it. There had been coups in other countries in the region (amongst others Guatemala in 1954, Brazil and Bolivia in 1964, Argentina in 1966), but none that resonated with the outside world in the same way. It was Chile's misfortune to be seen as a paradigm example, a test case for the democratic road to socialism. Following the moderate reformism of Eduardo Frei's Christian Democratic administration (1964-1970) the 1970 election was won by a narrow margin by the Popular Unity coalition led by Socialist Party leader Salvador Allende. Allende sought to increase state ownership and control in the economy (an early move being the nationalisation of the copper industry), but to do so within the constitutional bounds of Chilean democracy. The result was an increased polarisation of society between the upper and middle classes with most to lose from the expropriation of privately-owned assets and the redistribution of income and the supporters of Allende (primarily the peasants, the working class and the marginal poor). This conflict exarcerbated Chile's growing economic difficulties (blamed either on the new government's reforms or on the obstruction of those reforms by the opposition and its tacit supporters in the United States), and led to the emergence of more radical left-wing groups such as the MIR (Revolutionary Movement of the Left) and eventually to the September 11th military coup led by General Pinochet. That this succeeded was due in no small part to the divisions on the left, with the Communist Party (and through it the Soviet Union, whose limited funding of the Popular Unity government was provided increasingly reluctantly) continually urging caution in the face of the maximalist demands being put forward by the MIR and the radical wing of Allende's Partido Socialista.

The coup was significant not just for its resounding verdict on the democratic socialist approach but also for the opportunity it provided for the trial of the monetarist policies advocated by economists such as Milton Friedman. Thus the Chile of Pinochet continued to attract and divide international attention and opinion, organisations such as Amnesty and the Betrand Russell Tribunal publicising the regime's human rights abuses whilst conservative leaders in the UK and US in the 1980s supported its sound anti-communist and neo-liberal economic stances. The materials held here are predominantly from groups more concerned with torture and disappearances than with interest rates, and include items produced by expatriate branches of the Popular Unity parties, reports from external Church, UN and labour investigators and a host of materials from organisations representing those who suffered under Pinochet. There is also a sizable collection of contemporary material dating from the time of the Allende government.